“Christmas happens to be all about repair, restoration, and renewal,” Timothy Cardinal Dolan said. “Today, bells chime in joy rather than toll in sorrow. Terror is quelled by truces, as even war pauses.”

Looking weary during a third straight day of speeches and ceremony, Pope Benedict XVI led 22 new cardinals in Mass Sunday and prayed for help so that he and his aides can continue to carry out the Catholic church’s worldwide mission.